Friedman Fr. Pat. No. 2,520,181 discloses a speaker support frame structure which is held across a mounting orifice preformed in a wall board (or wall panel) by means of screw pivoted clips. However, when a speaker is associated with this frame structure, only the rearward cylindrical portion of the speaker housing basket (which portion houses the speaker magnet) projects inwardly through the orifice. The remainder of the speaker housing basket (which remainder includes a conically tapered portion that houses the speaker cone and an outwardly turned frontal flange or rim that is used for speaker mounting) extends forwardly from the wall board. This forward extension is disadvantageous for many speaker installations.
Also, a flange of this Friedman frame structure outwardly extends adjacent to the forward side of the wall board at the orifice and is associated with screw clips. Each screw clip is provided with a leg portion that pivots outwardly to engage the rearward side of the wall board when its associated screw is turned. These legs must each be pivoted and wall board engaged to secure the frame structure to the wall board before a speaker is mounted upon the frame structure. Another disadvantage is that the speaker must be removed from the frame structure before the frame structure can be removed from the wall board. Also, with this frame structure, a speaker cannot be premounted thereto to reduce installation labor.
Further, with the Friedman frame structure, no speaker cover or grill is provided for association with peripheral portions of the frame structure after the speaker is mounted to the frame structure. In Friedman, a speaker grill is associated with the face of the speaker.
Koshimura U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,369 also discloses a screw clip wall mounted speaker support frame structure with the speaker here being of the flat type. The speaker mounts to the frame structure from the frame structure rear side so that the speaker cannot be separated from the frame structure unless the support frame is first completely detached from the associated wall board even for minor adjustment purposes which is very undesirable. Also, this frame structure prefers that a separate coiled compression spring member be associated with each screw clip subassembly evidently for purposes of biasing the clip leg member in a transversely spaced relationship relative to adjacent portions of the frame structure which adds to frame structure making and installation costs. Further, no cover member which overfits the support frame as well as the mounted speaker is provided.
The art needs a new and improved speaker support frame structure for the recessed wall mounting of a speaker. Preferably, the frame structure is independently engaged or disengaged with either the speaker or the wall board. Also, a cover grill for both the mounted speaker and the speaker support frame structure is optionally attached. The present invention provides such an improved speaker support frame structure and optional cover grill.